


Transcendent

by imdex



Series: You Know the Rules [11]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Dreaming, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fear, Fear of Discovery, Feelings, Gen, I have no idea what to tag, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Torture, Inspired by..., Minor Violence, Murder, My brain, Psychological Torture, Recovered Memories, Relationship(s), Repressed Memories, Safe Haven, There's A Tag For That, Torture, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 15:12:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8290480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imdex/pseuds/imdex
Summary: He was his own and nothing more mattered.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This came out of nowhere.

The first thing Rulindil became aware of was the lukewarm fall air and the chilled caress of the breeze. Slowly his eyes opened and he was overwhelmed initially by the vivid fall colors and the nearly blinding light from between the shades of red, titian, yellow. The elf sat up from his bed of leaves and then became aware that he was high off the ground in a nest. Where fear would have gained hold over him came instead a feeling of calm. 

The nest was _safe_ and he had built it high above all threats and dangers. The nest was secure and it was comfortable. It was _his_ and none could touch him there within. He smiled; he was secure and that was all that mattered. 

Idly he scanned the horizon from his perch high in the pines when from below came a voice. Feminine, playful, unfamiliar, and yet at the same time his heart skipped within his chest at how the strange voice brought on a sense of yearning to know who it belonged to. He crawled to the edge of the nest to peer over at the woman but was instead met with the unexpected yet again. 

A dragon, or at least it used to be, stared back at him and slowly lifted its massive head to look down on him. Old dry flesh and scales hung green and unkempt from brittle bone and once more the Altmer felt no fear as the decaying beast bore down on him. 

'Hin tiid het los ahst oblaan, dovah fahliil.'

With that the dragon opened his mouth and Rulindil braced himself as the beast dove down with terrifying speed to ensnare him between his spear like teeth. His eyes slammed shut at the impact but he just as quickly found himself stumbling forward on his feet and as his eyes opened once more he found himself in the middle of a snowy clearing surrounded by pines cloaked in thick sheets of alabaster. 

The elf looked around once more and his heart began to pick up in his chest as he felt _her_. The strange one, the one from the ground below, the one that he _knew_ commanded that dragon to remove him from his perch high above. Curiosity and apprehension tickled at the back of his mind and her presence drew the hair to rise up along his body. 

He spun in place and picked apart his surroundings noting more and more the trees closing in on him. 

This unknown was powerful and she was stealthy. She stirred unfamiliar and well known emotions within him and Rulindil felt a hint of fear mix in with his unease. The unknown was powerful enough to remove him from his perch up high, to rip him from the safety of the citadel he'd built above and to instead throw him into the unknown world below. 

He opened his mouth to call out to her and from the trees came movement and as he turned to face the motion time slowed down. A snowball arced gracefully in the air as it came toward his face, a trail of translucent glitter sparkling beautifully in the afternoon sunlight as it approached, and as time returned to normal and the snow hit him and burst in a cloud of cold radiance her voice came once more. 

Hidden in the trees and high pitched now with merriment that brought the same emotion to his own heart she spoke. 

'Hit me and you can kiss me, sucker!'

Rulindil moved before he could comprehend it. Running through the veil of cold crystalline glimmer he bolted through the trees and stumbled to a stop as he took in his new surroundings. Dark and cold his room looked no different save for the small being seated in a chair at his window. 

He approached her with swiftness as her cries rose to saturate the air with undeniable anguish. He felt an unnatural tug in his heart to hold the unknown close and to give her security she had taken away from him but as he reached out for her she disappeared leaving in her place a note. 

Rulindil frowned and reached down for the parchment and read over her words slowly as the air moved around him. 

_Tag, you're it_

A cry sounded from behind him and with calmness the high elf moved to his bedroom door and out into the hall. Elenwen moved in slow motion as she barked down orders to the guards below and with out a care for her anger or for her authority that he had so diligently followed for decades, Rulindil moved past her and down the stairs. 

Below he was met with a scene he didn't expect but one that brought a smile to his face and amused laughter from his chest. The guards were hogtied and gagged and angrily they scooted around the flagstone as they fought to remove themselves from their compromising position. Rulindil wiped at the corner of his eye and spoke to them. 

'You all look so _silly!_ '

Then a voice sounded behind him that sucked the very joy and merriment the unknown had brought and shown him in the short amount of time he'd been removed from his tower. A voice that came with it the promise of pain and suffering. The only voice that would cause the unshakable and unfeeling Altmer to cower in absolute _fear_. 

'Look at what you've done, boy.'

Rulindil was frozen then and the cold of the air crept in and shredded through his clothing to cut into his flesh painfully. He watched unable to look away the guards die one by one. 

'You have betrayed the Dominion.'

The voice manifested before him and all Rulindil could do was open and shut his mouth dumbly. Vaarilion idly glanced around the black void that had taken over the Solar. The dead guards were bathed in lighting that originated from nothing and Rulindil could see their blood flowing thickly from them. 

'All of this for _her._ '

His father looked at him then and Rulindil felt physically seared by the rage the older mer was emitting. But then a most curious thing happened. The blood was up to their knees now and the only light remaining lingered on the two. Rulindil growled at his sire and dared to step forward. 

Of course it was for _her_! He'd do anything for _her_ and he would most certainly protect _her_ with his dying breath!

'Yes, you old fool! All of this has always been for her! She is all I've searched for and all I've dreamed of! She is my strength and she is my weakness! She is everything and was before I ever met her and she will forever remain that to me.'

Vaarilion glared back at him and extended his palms. Electric sprung to life and crackled with a vile violet light and with a sneer his sire addressed him once more. 

'You are weak and worthless just as your mother was.'

Rulindil smiled and found himself giggling. Anger and heartache mingled within his soul and as the magic hit his chest he found himself laughing mindlessly. Tears slid down his face and he gasped for air between uncontrollable laughter and only after he had been taken to his knees within the pool of crimson did he stop to address Vaarilion once more. 

But Vaarilion was gone and in his place stood _her_. 

The Bosmer cried and held her arms above her head as if shackled. Her voice cut through all the emotions he'd been overrun by and sent a sharp ache of dread through his heart. 

'PLEASE DON'T! PLEASE!'

Her body began to give and bleed to unseen lashes and she screamed out at every new injury between her pleas that fell upon the deaf ears of the one doing that to her. He drew his hand back from the pool and raised it high above him. A voice calmly chided him from somewhere outside his peripheral. 

'Do not cease.'

He brought it down against his will and he was suddenly before her once more. The whip tore her skin open and sent her blood flying through the air. He remembered her now; she was the first interrogation. She was his first _kill_. 

Her dying breath held the one word that he'd hear for centuries following. 

'…pl..ease.'

The elf was gone and Rulindil found himself standing alone in the void. He could only hear his own heart hammering in his aching chest for a few seconds and trembled with the adrenaline that burned through his veins. 

And then the void exploded with the cry of _thousands_. 

Rulindil fell to his knees and held his hands over his ears and cried out as the volume of their agony and anger overwhelmed him. He could feel the ground tremble as they all closed in on him, demanding his death, eager to rip him apart and finally get their revenge for dying at his hands. 

Just as they neared him, just as he felt their hands hovering over his body, they were gone and once more he was in a new place and once more there was peace. 

He opened his eyes and pulled his hands from his ears and found himself back in his nest but beside him sat another. 

The _unknown_. 

He couldn't see her and he couldn't touch her but he knew she was there. 

'How is it that she has such control?'

She smiled and a voice, _his voice_ , spoke. 

'You've given it to her.'

'But how can that be? I don't know who she is! How has she the authority to take me from my home only to fling me out into the unknown?'

'You chose to step out of all you've ever known to follow after her. You just haven't taken that first step yet.'

Rulindil frowned. 

'Who is she that I would stand against the Dominion? That I would slay those close to me? That would bring me to face the things I've tried so hard to put back away in my mind? That would make me so _weak_?'

She leaned in and he felt her presence linger against his side. For a few moments he allowed the serenity of her company to lull him. He fell back against the linens and closed his eyes. A smile, strange to his normally neutral lips, curled them as she placed a tender kiss against his temple. 

'She is yours. You just don't know that yet.'

She moved and he knew she was leaving him and in panic his eyes flew open. The birds chirped outside his window and Rulindil found himself looking wildly around his room to find her. But it was a dream, a strange one, and the Emissary quickly shoved the feelings lingering from the hodgepodge of ridiculousness that his mind had stirred aside. Or at least he tried to and with a growl he rubbed his hand down his face and gave a lengthy exhale. 

Tonight Elenwen was set to host Skyrim's nobles, Jarls, and upper class citizens. A party he wasn't invited to and one that he had no intentions of attending. The Altmer stood and began his morning routine. As he washed his face in the basin he glared at himself. 

That dream, that unknown woman, brought to his heart _hope_ that he didn't realize he'd been missing. Hope that perhaps there might me more than what he originally thought of life, hope of something new, hope of something he didn't know he wanted. 

'You are a fool.'

Rulindil glared stonily back at himself and quelled the feeling. There wasn't anything more, there was nothing he was missing, and there was nobody that would provoke such emotions. He pulled on his robes and made his way out into the Solar. 

'I am my own and there is nothing more.'

**Author's Note:**

> Tied into the beginning of Interrogation and There Was More and a few more things I've done. At least I think that's what I named that thing in For the Love of Everything. Anyway! Thanks for reading :)  
> Translation of Dovahzul  
> 'Your time here is at end, Dragon elf.'


End file.
